Hot Tips

Make your food decisions before you go shopping. Write a menu for the week and from this write your grocery list, remember to also include lunch choices. When you go shopping stick to your list. Every time you go shopping you are more likley to buy additional things that you may not need.

Keep up with your fluids. Being slightly dehydrated can lead to snacking, having a good fluid intake can help decrease grazing over the day. The best fluid to drink is water.

How you eat is just as important as what you eat.People who eat slowly and take the time to enjoy their food can more easily recognise when they have eaten enough.

People who carry weight around their waist are at higher risk of heart disease. Men should aim to keep their waist measurement at under 102cm and women under 88cm.

Confused about portions? The serving size for meat, fish or chicken is around the size of the palm of your hand, or around ¼ of your plate. Carbohydrate foods such as potato, kumara, corn, rice, pasta or cous cous should be another ¼ of your plate. The other half of your plate needs lots of colorful vegetables. Try serving your vegetables first, this can help to reduce meat serving sizes.

Most New Zealanders don’t eat enough Omega 3 fatty acids.Fish such as salmon or tuna are excellent sources, but if you are not keen on fish walnuts can be an alternative source. Omega three is important for heart health.

Label lingo – the words ‘a good source of energy’ on a label do not mean that you will feel revitalised and full of energy after eating the food.It is more likely to mean that the food is high in kilojoules (calories).

All oils are still 100% fat and therefore energy (calorie) dense.While some fats are better for our heart health such as olive, avocado, canola or rice bran oil if you want to lose weight try to reduce your intake of all fats.

Small changes in your food choices do add up over time if you are trying to lose weight.Replacing a daily can of soft drink with water will lead to a 6kg weight loss in a year.

If you are eating a treat food such as chocolate make sure you get the most out of it.How? Choose a good quality brand and eat it slowly enjoying all the flavours that are released. Eating a food slowly like this might mean you don’t eat as much of it and you get pleasure instead of guilt from eating it.

The term wholegrain can be used for a product where the whole intact grain has been used or it can refer to grain that has been ground, milled, flaked or cracked.For the term wholegrain to be used all three parts of the grain – the endosperm, germ and bran – must still be present in the same proportions they would appear in the grain prior to processing.